Kirby (SSBM)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Tier	G (25/26 (tied with Pichu)

“

A puff ball that floats through the sky and boasts a variety of moves. (Melee's instruction manual)

”

Announced at E3 2001, Kirby (カービィ, Kābī) is a starter character in all three games of the Super Smash Bros. series. Although tier-wise he was the second-to-top character in the original game topped only by Pikachu, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he became severely nerfed.

Currently, Kirby is ranked in the G tier in 25th/26th place (tied with Pichu for last). Among Kirby's best attributes includes the ability to perform Kirbycide and a rather good edgeguard game, especially when combined with his Fence of Pain. Additionally, Kirby has a very good defensive game, due to his small size. However, Kirby's overall power has been strongly nerfed from the previous game. A majority of his attacks are considerably weaker and have smaller sweetspots. Kirby also has awful approach options, due to a poor SHFFL and the lack of a good projectile and went from having one of the best combo abilities in SSB64 to one of the worst in Melee. This, combined with a rather predictable recovery and a ease of being comboed because of his poor hitstun leads to Kirby to have generally abysmal matchups against other characters with seven very unfavorable matchups and only two favorable (against Bowser and Roy).

Attributes

Kirby's signature move is Inhale, which allows him to use opponents' neutral special moves. Kirby is also known for having five midair jumps (although the last couple of jumps barely give any height) and floaty descent, which gives him good recovery distance. However, his recovery is still slow and predictable. His multiple jumps also allow for good edgeguarding abilities and good midair evasion (due to slow falling speed when normal and fast falling speed with midair transformation). Kirby's small size, quick dodges, and low crouch (one of the lowest in the game) enable him to have good evasion. He also has a large shield in relation to body size, which makes him difficult to shield stab. Kirby is arguably the character most famous for his sacrificial KOs, Kirbycides. These are extremely useful in certain scenarios, but his back throw and forward throw can be intercepted. When Kirby is in stone form, he does not take damage (although he can be grabbed out of it).

However, Kirby has several significant problems. Many of his moves are slow, weak (almost all of his moves have tiny sweetspots), and short-ranged. He is easily KO'd due to being light and floaty (and he can't escape most combos because of these things due to having a high amount of hitstun when hit). He has poor combo ability, his SHFFL'd aerials are slow, and his up special (Final Cutter) does not have good horizontal range. Also, his grab game is very limited. As aforementioned, his back and forward throw can easily be intercepted due to them being easily shaken out of and left Kirby to die, and only down-throw can be used to land another move. Kirby has a very small wavedash, making wavesmashing hard. Lastly, Kirby's hammer is extremely weak and punishable if not sweetspotted, which is hard to do as the sourspot is much larger than the sweetspot.

Moveset

Normal

• Neutral attack: Kirby jabs forwards with his hand, followed by a short series of fast punches. Each punch does around 1%-2%.
• Dash attack: Kirby runs forwards, on fire. Based on his fire ability in his games.
• Down tilt: Kirby kicks forwards while crouching. Fast, decent ranged. 10%
• Forward tilt: Kirby does a quick roundhouse kick forwards. Decent range. 11%
• Up tilt: Kirby thrusts his back leg upwards. Infamous for it's shield damage. 8%

Aerials

• Neutral aerial: Spins around, hitting with his limbs. Long lasting hitbox. 10%
• Forward aerial: Kirby kicks forwards three times. Last hit has medium knockback. 16% if all hits connect.
• Back aerial: Kirby does a no-look kick backwards. Can be used in the Fence of Pain. Good knockback. 14%
• Up aerial: Kirby flips in mid air, kicking upwards. Great knockback, possibly Kirby's best KO move. 15%
• Down aerial: Kirby spins around, drilling downwards with his feet. 16% if all hits connect.

Smash attacks

• Forward smash: Kirby jumps forwards, kicking. Has below average knockback. 15%
• Up smash: Kirby does a back-flip, kicking upwards. Has high knockback. 15%
• Down smash: Kirby does the splits, hitting on both of his sides. Has decent knockback. 14%

Grabs & throws

• Pummel: A quick jab to the opponent, but contains more ending lag than most pummels. 3% damage.
• Down throw: Kirby throws the opponent on the ground, then stands on the opponent, hitting the enemy with his feet. Only the final hit does damage. 8% damage.
• Back throw: Kirby flips backwards, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. 8%
• Forward throw: Kirby does a suplex, hitting the opponent on the ground. Can be used to Kirbycide. Escapable during the throw. 8%
• Up throw: Kirby jumps high up into the air, and comes back down, ramming the opponent to the ground by doing a suplex. Can be used to Kirbycide on certain stages. 10% damage.

Special moves

Kirby's special moves

Neutral special	Swallow		Inhale
Side special	—	Hammer		Hammer Flip
Up special	Final Cutter
Down special	Stone

Changes from SSB to Melee

Kirby was unarguably the most severly nerfed character of the Smash series. Below are the changes:

• Now has a side special: Hammer.
• New dash attack (burning attack from Kirby's Adventure).
• New forward throw (his old forward throw is now his up throw).
• Stone can change Kirby into 5 objects, as opposed to one.
• Can walk around after inhaling someone.
• New up air. (Kicks upwards powerfully).
• His old up aerial is now his neutral aerial.
• Decrease in air speed makes recoveries now very easy to gimp.
• New forward aerial. (Kicks three times forwards)
• Forward smash has much more starting and ending lag (no longer fastest in the game)
• Up tilt has had a decrease in speed.
• Back aerial has a slightly different animation which means there is almost no hitbox on Kirby's front now.
• Down aerial lands differently and gives a small hit, even when L-cancelled. This makes it difficult to combo with.
• Up special move is shorter.
• Slower, weaker, easier to combo, reduced combo ability, and reduced range.
• Back throw can Kirbycide.
• His forward tilt deals 1% more damage.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Trophy descriptions

Kirby is the single most represented character in trophy format in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Being a playable character, Kirby has his own set of "gameplay" trophies that are acquirable by completing any of the three modes in the single-player modes with Kirby: Classic, Adventure, and All-Star.

Kirby (Adventure)

Kirby's small size lets him dodge many attacks, but his light weight makes him fly far when struck. Using his ability to inflate, he can jump five times. His Swallow attack creates wild combos; not only can he copy foes' moves, but he'll also put on special hats and mimic their voices. His Hammer is unwieldy but powerful."

• B: Swallow
• Smash B: Hammer

Kirby (All-Star)

Because of his light weight, Kirby is always in danger of being sent flying, but his ability to puff up and fly allows him to come back from amazing distances. His Final Cutter strikes on the way up and on the way down, and it sends out a beam of force upon landing. Kirby transforms into various objects and crashes down when he uses his Stone technique.

• Up & B: Final Cutter
• Down & B: Stone

Kirby is also the subject of five trophies that can be considered its own trophy series: the Kirby Hat series, with information about the powers Kirby gains when he uses Swallow on each opponent. The first three are "normally collectible" trophies that can be found during normal play and in the Trophy Lottery, but the last two are awarded once the player has unlocked all the playable characters involved on those trophies.

Finally, the character Kirby himself is depicted on some other trophies not related to gameplay: Ball Kirby, Fighter Kirby and Fire Kirby.

Costumes

Kirby's palette swaps in SSBM

Trivia

• Kirby's special moves from Melee are used in the game Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, through the use of the ability called Smash. The moves he gets are Twinkle Star (neutral aerial from Melee, although in this game it has much more range), Hammer, Final Cutter, Stone, and Vulcan Jab. He gets the ability from Master Hand, who is a boss in the game.
• Kirby has the shortest taunt, followed by Mr. Game & Watch.

External links

• YouTube:
• YouTube:
• YouTube:
• Kirby Video Archive
• The Competitive Kirby - t!mmy's Kirby Guide